


There’s a place for us

by Anonymous



Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types, The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Pregnancy, Protective Darry, Teen Pregnancy, Trans Johnny Cade, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:27:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27836797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Johnny Cade is not the smartest of the greasers, not even about the things he should be smart about.Alternatively - Johnny and Dally are forced to deal with things earlier than they ever planned.
Relationships: Johnny Cade/Dallas Winston
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41
Collections: Anonymous





	There’s a place for us

Johnny Cade is not the smartest of the gang. He’s the pet, the one that the Curtis boys try to take care of. The one who Steve and Two-Bit try to protect from the socs, and the one who Dallas is soft with. But he is not smart, even about the things he should be smart about.

Darry is out for a walk near the lot. Pony said that he hasn’t seen his best friend all day, a quick call to Two-Bit’s place has revealed he’s not there, Dallas has said the same and it’s leaving something prickling unpleasantly under the eldest Curtis’s skin. It’s only been a few weeks since he was jumped by Bob, and the socs have been intruding on their territory more and more frequently. He knows that Johnny hates going home, and will sleep outside even with Darry banning all of them from doing it, and if he’s not with Dallas then the chances are that he’s there.

It’s still not pleasant when he sees Johnny curled over on the car seat, his entire body hunched over as he retches over onto the ground. Darry strides over in a few steps, bracing himself against the smell of the bile as he hooks his arms under Johnny’s legs and behind the small of his back. If it were Pony in this situation he’d probably be yelling by now, but as it is Johnny looks miserable enough. So he chooses to take a gentle tone as Johnny looks up at him blearily.

“Why you out here kiddo? You know that we have a perfectly good couch.”

“Didn’t want to bother you,” Johnny gets out before leaning his head against Darry‘s shoulder. “It was too far to get to Dallas’s place.”

“You’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

“He’s sweet on me, I think.”

Darry frowns. Dally is soft with Johnny, but he’s not always the kindest. The number of times that he’s had to step in before he could hit Pony is alarming to say the least.

“He’s been good to you? Hasn’t made you do anything you didn’t want to?”

Johnny shakes his head and smiled weakly. “He gave me his Christopher medal.”

It’s meant to be reassuring, but it’s all that that Darry can do to keep his grip on Johnny instead of running back to the Curtis house and beating Dally around the head. Everyone and their mother knows that necklace is only given to people Dallas Winston is trying to sleep with, and from the look on Johnny’s face, that’s already happened.

“You need to be careful with him, Johnny. You know what he’s like when he’s in a mood.”

Johnny shakes his head. “He’s so good to me. Hasn’t gotten my name wrong once. Even Pony messes up sometimes, and I’ve been using this name for nearly five years. I think I’m going to move in with him soon.”

Johnny would not be telling Darry this if he didn’t have a fever. The elder Curtis sighs as they round the block and come into sight of the house. He mentally tallies up how much ibuprofen they have against how much Johnny needs, wincing when he realises he’s going to have to buy some more soon. Johnny frowns up at him and Darry forces a smile to his face.

“It’s alright Johnny. Dally’s with us right now, he can stay with you on the couch tonight.”

He lowers Johnny to the ground once they take the steps up to the front door. Pony and Soda are already there, helping Johnny inside and into the couch while Dallas grabs a blanket and lays it over him.

“Where were you doll? You got the whole gang worried about you.” Dally looks around the room before pressing a quick kiss to Johnny’s forehead, an act that makes Darry’s blood boil.

“Let him sleep Dally. I need to talk to you on the porch. Pony and Soda, start getting ready for bed, you’ve got school and work in the morning.”

There’s a bit of complaining as his younger brothers run past each other to get to the bathroom first, but there’s nothing but silence as Dally follows him outside. When he looks back the younger greaser at least has the self awareness to look slightly ashamed of himself, his shoulders hunched slightly and his eyes fixed on his shoes. Darry sighs.

“I know what you and Johnny have been getting up to,” he begins, holding up a hand when he sees Dally getting ready to say something. “He’s happy, so I’m not going to try to put a stop to it. But I do want you to know that if you hurt him you’ll never have a place here again. And it won’t be the socs that you have to worry about, because there won’t be a place in Oklahoma, let alone Tulsa, where you’ll be safe from me.”

Dally sighs and nods. “He makes me feel so light, you know, like none of the things that happened in New York ever even touched me. I don’t ever want to let him go, don’t think I could live without him.”

“How long has it been going on?”

Dally shrugs, “I mean, I’ve liked him for a while, and we’ve been friends forever, but it’s been about a month. Since just before Johnny was jumped. It’s not like we been lying to you for years or nothing.”

Darry nods and pulls out a cigarette, taking a rare moment to savour the world before he has to get ready to go to bed so he can start a double shift in the morning.

“You know you need to be careful with him. Specially since he got jumped he’s been in a strange place. Last thing he needs is you breaking his heart.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

“And you’re being safe?”

Dally blushes and looks back into the house as though he would welcome anything or one, even a drunk Two-Bit, if it meant that he didn’t have to go through this conversation with Darry.

“We’re being safe.”

“Good. Last thing Johnny needs is his parents screaming at him because he’s got a baby to take care of and no one to help him.”

Dally shifts, offended suddenly by the insinuation.

“I wouldn’t do that to him. I want to take care of him, to keep him safe.”

Darry permits himself a small smile before turning on Dallas, holding himself up to his full height as he crowds against the younger greaser.

“You care about him and want him to be safe? Well if you’re sleeping together, the least you can do for him is give him a place to sleep at night. I know he can’t stand to go home, won’t come here more than twice a week, and it’s safer than sleeping in the lot.”

“He was there again?” Dallas’s face twists in concern and Darry loses some of his anger at the genuine worry that appears on the other greaser’s face.

“Said he felt too sick to make it to yours tonight.”

Dally sighs and pushes his hands through his hair until it’s all out of his face and looking a little ridiculous all piled up on his head. “I don’t got anything planned for tomorrow. I’ll take him back to Buck’s and we’ll take it easy until he feels better.”

“Good.”

Dally nods and walks inside, leaving Darry to his cigarette and the night stars. The eldest member of the gang sighs and takes another drag of his cigarette, something not sitting well with him even as he hears his brothers saying good night to each other and Dallas murmuring to Johnny.

Johnny is not the smartest of them. Darry knows that Johnny is not the smartest of them, even when he should know better. And if Darry knows anything about the universe, it is that it has it out for Johnny, and is unlikely to let him off this easy.

* * *

It is after the rumble, after the fire, after Dally just managed to pull Johnny out of the church before a falling beam could do more than clip him on the shoulder. The three of them are in the hospital, Johnny on a special bed because his arms are all burnt up and there’s a nasty scar on his back, but he can still breathe alright and the doctor thinks he’ll keep all his fingers. Pony and Dallas are sharing a room, the entire Curtis gang crowded around them as they wince at the burns on their arms.

The nurses know better than to try to call the Cades to discuss the health of their son. It’s Oklahoma sure, but the younger nurses especially can’t help but wince whenever they hear the sound of Mrs Cade scream about how ungrateful her ‘daughter’ is for refusing to see her.

So it’s Darry who’s approached by one of the nurses, and who is taken out of the noisy room and into a quiet hallway. He tries to smile at the short young woman, knowing that he can be hard to talk to when he has the face he wears to a rumble on.

“Has something happened to Johnny?” His face screws up at the thought of something going wrong when they’ve already survived so much. “Did his parents do something?”

The nurse shakes her head. “We told him of course, and he said we could tell you. We’ve been doing daily blood tests to make sure that no infection sets in, and one of the lab tests showed up something unexpected.”

Darry’s mind immediately flies through every worst case scenario he can think of. The thought of Johnny never getting out of this hospital because something awful has happened, after he’s been through so much already is almost too much to bear.

“How bad is it?”

“Well it looks like the baby has survived so far, he’s only about 3 months or so, so it’s still a way before he’s out of the woods, but they both seem healthy enough.”

Darry’s entire world freezes for a moment. He looks back into the room where the rest of the gang is, his eyes fixing on Dally. Dally who promised to take care of Johnny with such sincerity, but apparently couldn’t remember to wear a condom. Darry would reach into that room and kill him if there weren’t quite so many witnesses.

“Is Johnny awake right now?”

The nurse nods and points to a room down the hall as if they entire gang hasn’t memorised the way to Johnny’s room by now. Darry smooths back his hair and walks towards it, making sure he doesn’t scare the injured boy with his severe expression.

Johnny’s looking out the window when Darry enters. He has both of his arms held above the rest of him by a metal frame, and there’s a frame holding the sheet above him away from the burns on his legs, but he’s awake and he smiles warily when Darry walks in.

“I told the nurse she could tell you.” He’s so eager for Darry to know he’s trying to do the right thing and it’s heartbreaking. He nods and leans against the doorframe of the hospital room.

“I know Johnnycakes. How are you feeling?”

“They thought I had an infection because I was throwing up so much. Thought I was dying.”

“Did you know?”

Johnny shakes his head, looking away from Darry for a moment. “You know that I’ve never been the healthiest. And after I got jumped I thought it was just that my nerves were shot. I know you want to tan Dally, but I promise you, it was my fault Darry.”

Darry smiles wryly and shakes his head. “Oh yeah? Cause unless there were actual angels involved, I’m pretty sure it takes two people to get into this sort of trouble.”

“Condom broke and I told Dally it was fine. Please don’t be mad at him Darry, it was my fault, really.”

Darry laughs softly and shrugs, offering a genuine smile to Johnny when the younger greaser turns to look at him. “He’s going to have to get a job now, start looking for a house for you two. God knows you can’t raise a baby at Buck’s place.”

Johnny smiles properly for the first time since Darry entered the room. He cranes his neck as much as he can, looking for any sign of anger before he continues.

“Will you let me tell him? He’ll be happy I promise.”

“He better be, lord knows that he’s getting the shit kicked out of him if he isn’t,” Darry approaches Johnny’s bed now, confident that the younger greaser won’t spook or feel uncomfortable. “When do you think you’ll tell him?”

Johnny shrugs. “I think once I get out. Nurse said that if I’m going to lose it, I’ll lose it while I’m here and it wouldn’t be worth upsetting Dally over something that doesn’t last.”

“I thought you said he’d be happy Johnnycakes?” Darry moves some of Johnny’s hair out of his face, the lack of grease stopping him from being able to keep it back permanently when it immediately falls back onto the younger greaser’s forehead.

“He will be, but he’s gonna be sad if it doesn’t last.”

“So will you be, wouldn’t you want to have someone with you who knew and could understand?”

“Please Darry.”

Darry nods and takes a step back.

“I’m gonna talk to the nurse and find out when they think you can leave. I’m telling Dally that you’re staying with us after you come home, okay? Buck’s good people, but Dally can’t be taking care of you there. Okay Johnny?”

Johnny nods and closes his eyes.

“You need anything Johnnycakes?”

“Think I’m just tired Darry, I was ready for more yelling.”

Darry smiles and waits for Johnny to fall asleep before he leaves the room and returns to the rest if the gang.

They’re much quieter when he gets back, and Dally quickly searches out any sign of bad news before he relaxes back onto his hospital bed.

“Johnny alright?” Keith breaks the nervous silence, as is his way, ignoring the conflicted look on Ponyboy’s face and the barely hidden terror in Dallas’s eyes.

“He’s fine. Just a bit lonely. I told him that he’s coming home with us when the hospital discharges him.” Dallas moves as though to start talking and Darry puts a hand up to silence him. “I know he’s got your place, but you can’t make him deal with those stairs every day while he’s healing.”

“We’ll stay out of your hair Darry,” Dally begins, so eager to please. “And we can pay rent and everything.”

Darry shakes his head. “You can save it for finding a house, you’re getting too old to be hanging around in a one bedroom apartment.”

Dally nods quietly. “He looking okay? He’s not in pain?”

Darry shakes his head. “He’s fine, he might need a bit more time to heal fully, but he shouldn’t be here for more than a week.”

The tense atmosphere broken, the youngest Curtis brother goes back to doing what he does best - making Darry doubt the existence of a higher power.

“What about Dally and me? We ain’t nearly as badly hurt.”

Darry smiles fondly. “Tomorrow. And the minute you’re back you are catching up on all the work you missed out on. And you ain’t visiting anyone except Johnny until you’re finished, understood?”

Pony nods, trying to look irritated at the unfair treatment, but unable to pull it off because of the broad smile on his face.

Darry waits for the rest of the gang to become lost in conversation before he dares look at Dallas again. It’s like there are two parts of him arguing about the boy; one saying he’s got a good heart, the other saying he’s violent and unloving. For Johnny’s sake he hopes it isn’t the latter.

* * *

Johnny doesn’t get around to telling Dallas until three days after he is released from the hospital. The first day is spent painstakingly making the Curtis residence, its lounge room especially, suitable for a recovering burn victim. Darry watches as Dally fusses over every detail - down to the type of pillow the couch has - and lets himself relax slightly. The second day is spent watching over Johnny as he sleeps for all but four hours of the day. Darry watches as Dally fusses over Johnny’s dressings while the younger greaser sleepily protests that he’s fine and again he stops worrying that Dally is going to hurt Johnny once the news comes out.

Johnny has woken up at midnight at the end of the second day and now it falls onto Dallas to entertain him while they wait for him to feel sleepy again. Johnny has his head right above Dally’s heart, trying to use the steady rhythm to help him fall asleep. The heat of the day has dissipated, and there is a cool breeze coming through the small gap between the window and the sill.

Johnny can’t remember the last time he felt this safe, the last time he felt so certain about his future.

“Hey Dally?”

Dally shifts slightly underneath him, his long fingers starting to run through his hair in an effort to lull him to sleep.

“Yeah Johnnycakes?”

“I’m having a baby.”

Dally’s hand freezes in Johnny’s hair. He can’t have heard him right.

“What?”

“I’m having a baby. I’m having your baby.”

Every impulse, every muscle, every fibre of his being screams at him to run. He is Dallas Winston, the boy who blew in from New York and relies on nothing and nobody. This future that Johnny is offering him will take all of that away. His arms tighten around Johnny’s waist, his hands snaking down from his chest to his still flat stomach.

“Dally, you’re scaring me, say something.”

“How far along are you?”

Johnny does not have the strength in his arms to prop himself up and look into Dallas’s eyes, so he settles for craning his neck uncomfortably and trying to figure out how the slightly older greaser feels from the set of his jaw.

“About three months.”

There’s a horrible part of him that is disappointed that he can’t deny his part in this - as though Johnny would ever have messed around with anyone else even before they were together. He has to accept this as his responsibility and there is part of him that is howling at the shackles he can feel starting to trap him. He starts running a hand back and forth over Johnny’s stomach, pressing down lightly every few moments even though he knows he won’t be able to feel it yet.

“And it’s healthy after the fire? It ain’t gonna make you sick or nothing?”

Johnny smiles, the words reassuring even if he can’t see Dallas’s eyes. He lets his head fall back onto Dally’s chest, one of his bandaged hands joining Dally’s on his stomach.

“Nah, the nurses said if it managed to hold on for this long, then it’s in it for the whole nine yards.”

“And it won’t make you sick?”

Dally is ready to hate this baby, doesn’t want anything to hurt Johnny. Even if he’s not sure about spending his whole life with anyone, even someone as good and sweet as Johnny, he knows that a life without his favourite greaser isn’t worth living at all.

“They said I should be fine.”

Johnny closes his eyes when he feels Dally kiss the top of his head. The hand sitting on his stomach stills but doesn’t move away. He’s had his head above Dally’s heart for the entirety of this conversation, he knows that Dally isn’t nearly as calm as he’s trying to look, but he knows from experience that what goes on inside the mind doesn’t necessarily reflect the actions a person might make. So he lets himself drift off in the knowledge that Dally will probably still be there in the morning.

Dally still wants to run. Still thinks this baby is a bad idea, but he can feel Johnny’s even breath on his chest and he knows that he would do anything to keep that boy happy, so he beats back all of the anxiety chases off the wolf beast that lives inside him, and he tries to settle down to sleep.

Johnny wakes up only a few hours later, stumbling to the nearest bathroom with Dally close behind him. They sit in quiet for a few minutes after Johnny has finished emptying his stomach, Dally pushing the ungreased hair he held back out of Johnny’s eyes while the smaller boy focuses on catching his breath. There’s sweat on his face, and his eyes look wild, but Dally’d be dammed if there were a prettier person on the face of the planet.

“So you been pregnant since before you were jumped then?” Dally doesn’t want to scare Johnny, doesn’t want to make him feel like he’s going to run, but he is honestly worried that he’s been through too much to have a healthy baby.

“Naw, nurse said it would have been the week after that at the earliest. Why?”

Dally shrugs. “If I’d’ve known, I’d’ve never let you run into that church, you know? Are you sure the nurses said it would be fine?”

Johnny sighs. “Yes Dally. They said it was a fighter like me. Why you so caught up by it?”

Dally shakes his head and pulls Johnny closer to his chest, his hands running up and down Johnny’s bandaged arms. “It’s just that you’ve been through a lot, both of you.”

There’s an ‘and’ there. Dally is a boy who could always add an ‘and’ to most things he says if he wasn’t so scared of saying things out loud. But Johnny knows there’s an ‘and’, unlike most of the poor saps that Dallas Winston dates, and so he knows that if he waits calmly, and keeps exactly where he is, he’ll get to hear what it is.

“It’s hard enough making room in my life for you. This baby just adds another thing to care about.”

“Another thing to care about?”

“Another thing to lose,” Dallas kisses the top of his head again, “You know, you weren’t awake when I pulled you outta that church? Barely breathing too. And then they wouldn’t let us see you till after the rumble! And I thought, well I don’t think I can say what I thought without Darry killing me, but it weren’t good.”

Johnny feels Dally beginning to sob before he feels teardrops falling onto his scalp. He sighs and pulls himself away from the other greaser, placing both of his bandaged hands on either side of Dally’s face while the other struggles to hold back the tide of tears.

“I’m scared too, you know. I don’t know nothing about babies, I’m going to have to deal with people calling me the wrong name, and I don’t even want to think about what my parents are going to say about all this. So you don’t need to pretend to be strong Dally. I just need you to be here.“

Dally nods.

“You know, I ain’t good at math, but I did figure out that the baby- that I was, you know- umm when Darry brought me back from the lot that night, I was already... like this.”

Dally looks up, his face paling when he realises that Darry is going to kill him when he finds out about this.

“So if you could just be that soft for the next six months, we’ll be swell.”

Dally doesn’t regain the ability to speak for a while. He puts both of his hands on Johnny’s waist, his thumbs extending out to brush over the middle of his stomach.

“Darry is going to kill me. When he finds out there ain’t gonna be a place in the tri state area I can be safe from him.”

Johnny chuckles and shakes his head.

“He knows. A nurse told him at the hospital.”

Dally sighs, whether in relief or in fear something even he doesn’t know. He pulls Johnny back to him again and begins peppering kisses along his hairline, gentle and fierce at the same time.

“He’s going to tell me to get a job ain’t he?”

Johnny laughs softly as Dallas continues to kiss along his ear and down his neck. He nods as Dallas breaks away from his ministrations to press their foreheads together, his smile devilish and his eyes twinkling with mischievous intent.

“And I am going to get a job, and a white picket fence, and we are gonna have us a responsible adult life.”

Johnny nods before Dally leans in and kisses him on the forehead.

“Okay, well I don’t know bout you Johnnycakes, but I need my beauty sleep before I face Darry.”

Dally stands, lifting Johnny with him as he prepares to go back to their bed in the lounge room. Johnny smiles tentatively as Dallas leads him back to the bed, his head once more finding its place on Dallas’s chest once they have settled themselves in amongst the blankets.

Dally might have a history of running away from things, but the way he sees it, he was always just running towards this.

* * *

Darry has told them they’re getting married. It’s a week after Dallas finds out, three days after he asks Soda if there are any jobs at the DX, and four hours after Johnny is informed he’s going back to school the next term whether he wants to or not. He still hasn’t started to show, and through some mixture of trickery and charm, Darry has convinced the school to let him finish up the school year. Darry has got it into his head that Johnny is getting a high school diploma, and the school seems too scared of him to argue.

Johnny tries to argue at first, arguing that the burned greaser is going to be an easy target for the Socs, and that he ain’t going to be able to hide the baby forever. Darry points out that a high school diploma will help him get a job when he’s done raising the baby, and that the baby will be born in the holidays anyway.

Dally is nodding along with Darry’s logic, up until marriage is brought up.

“And you two are getting married. Bad enough you’re teenagers, can’t put being born out of wedlock on this baby as well.”

Dallas’s jaw drops, one hand reaching out to grab Johnny’s bandaged hand even as he shakes his head at Darry.

“But Darry, we’re teenagers. Johnny needs his parents to sign off on this! You really think they’re going to do that?”

Darry pulls out a signed sheet of paper from a stack of bills on the table. He passes it to Dallas, and sure enough, there are the signatures of Mr. and Mrs. Cade on there. The eldest greaser shrugs at Dallas’s incredulous raised eyebrow and Johnny’s look of shock. Dallas, one hand still holding onto Johnny shakes his head in disbelief.

“What about me? I don’t got no parents to sign a document to let me get married.”

Darry just shrugs. “Figured that, which is why you’re going before a judge next week to get a court order. If you just explain-”

“Jesus Darry, how long you been planning this?” Dally begins rubbing his thumb in circles over Johnny’s bandaged, willing the younger greaser not to mistake his confusion for anger.

Johnny moves his hand and places it on top of Dally’s, his bandaged fingers weakly squeezing while he tries to smile at Darry.

“I wanna get married if you do Dallas,” Johnny mumbles, only heard because both of the other people in the room know him so well. “This baby deserves not to be spat on for its whole life. And I don’t wanna spend my life with anyone else but you.”

That settles it, Dallas immediately asking Darry if he has a suit he can borrow for both the court date and his wedding.

They get married two weeks later. According to the state of Oklahoma, one J. Cade and a D. Winston are married in the registry office in Tulsa. If you ask one of the snippier secretaries, an older lady with blue powdered hair, the pair look atrocious with grease in their hair and both of them wearing pants - in her day (the depression) even women as poor as church mice would borrow a dress for their wedding, and here’s these two wearing denim. If you ask Dallas Winston, he’s never seen Johnny look happier or healthier, even with the bandages on his arms - his smile as he signs his name on the certificate is more than enough to make him look more handsome than every other groom in the office, the denim only adding to his comfort and therefore his prettiness.

According to Johnny and Dallas, they get married in the backyard of the Curtis house. Two-bit declares them man and man, and Soda throws rice over them as they kiss. It’s perfect, even if both of them would have liked to have waited a few years before they got to this point. Darry smiles approvingly from where he’s sitting with the dinner, his smile only fading a little when he notices the gap between Johnny and Dallas getting smaller and smaller as they dance to the Ronettes. Dallas catches his eye at that exact moment, a smirk forming on his face as he pulls Johnny even closer.

Darry can’t even complain. They’re married after all. Even if they are younger than him. At least Johnny’s staying in school, he won’t be the first greaser to bring a baby into school during his junior and senior year, and knowing Tulsa, he probably won’t be the last. Hell, the school might actually like the baby, especially if they (wrongly) think that it will lead to him repenting his deviant ways and start wearing skirts again. At least it’s stopped him smoking, and Two-bit has stopped offering him stolen beer. 

Darry turns his attention from the newly weds and into his own brothers. He knows that Sodapop has been down since Sandy went to live with her grandmother, but he’s starting to smile properly again, and while his relationship with Ponyboy is still fraught at times, at least his youngest brother doesn’t scowl whenever he sees him now. He’s smiling now as he watches Dally and Johnny swaying from side to side, a notebook dangling from one hand as he is lost in the music. Darry smiles and wanders over to him, slinging an arm around his shoulders when he reaches him.

“You all good Pony?”

Pony nods, even as he yawns and lets his head fall back onto his older brother’s shoulder. “I’m glad Johnny is okay. I was worried after all this he wouldn’t make it. That’s what would have happened in Shakespeare. Johnny would have died and Dallas would have done something stupid and died too.”

Darry smiles and ruffles his brothers hair. The blond is slowly starting to grow out and his natural dark hair is starting to show. He looks ridiculous, but he won’t let Darry cut it back to let the natural colour through. He says that it helps him to remember exactly how he ended up in Windrixville, how to avoid having that happen again. Darry smiles as he feels his little brother fall asleep on him, trying to ignore how low Dallas’s hands are on Johnny’s back as they continue to dance in the back yard.

All in all it is a wonderful evening, even with Tim Shepard trying to recruit half of Darry’s men into a rumble that’s happening next week if the Socs so much as step a toe out of line. Darry finishes it clearing the plates from the table they made out of boxes in the back yard, Soda and Pony tucked under the covers in their room, while Two-bit and Steve are sleeping under spare blankets on the back porch. The only other members of the gang who are awake are Johnny and Dally - he can hear them speaking softly in the lounge room as he cleans the dishes in the kitchen. He doesn’t need to be able to see them to know that Johnny is probably half asleep in Dally’s arms in their camp bed in the living room.

“You know, if I can keep on saving money from the DX, we could get a place for ourselves pretty quick.”

“How quick is quick?”

“Before this one is in school. Can you imagine? Our own back yard, our own porch, hell, we could have our own TV.”

Darry can hear the smile in Johnny’s voice when he replies. “Look at you, Mr. Heartbreaker, planning for the future.”

“Well, before I met you, I never really thought I had one. I was just some hood from New York that rolled into Tulsa. I think even Darry gave me a pretty neat expiry date.”

Darry almost feels bad for listening, the only thing stopping him from going out into the night so that they can have some privacy being that this is HIS house, that he’s nearly finished paying a mortgage on and he will not be driven out because two house guests don’t know how acoustics work.

There’s the sound of fabric rustling, and it takes Darry a second to realise that it’s the sound of Johnny’s bandages moving against the material of Dally’s shirt.

“Well, you know I’m relying on you to stay alive until we’ve had at least 18 years with this one. I ain’t got no intention of being a single parent.”

Dally chuckles. Darry hears him clear his throat in the way he always does when he’s been on the brink of crying, when he’s still trying to seem tuff and won’t accept a tissue or a handkerchief.

“Well, I suppose I can try to make that commitment. After all, I did just marry ya.”

Darry deliberately bangs some cutlery against the metal of the sink after that. There’s only so much softness he can take.

* * *

Johnny nearly has his baby on the kitchen floor of the Curtis house during the first week of the winter break. This is not the plan. The plan was to be in the hospital, with Dally by his side, but then, when had life ever taken Johnny’s plans into account?

His water breaks just after breakfast, when Darry has gone to work and only Soda and Pony are in the house with him. At first he’s so preoccupied with wiping up the mess he’s just made that he doesn’t fully register what is happening. Then the contractions start in earnest and he’s painfully reminded that he is in fact about to bring a baby into the world.

Pony is the one who finds him first, well acquainted with Johnny’s habit of trying to hide everything he goes through from the people around him. It only takes one look at Johnny bracing himself against the corner cupboard while he groans in pain for him to be reaching for the phone and calling the DX. Soda is hot on his heels, quickly running out of the house and over to Two-Bit’s place when he sees Johnny sweating on the floor and Pony asking for Dallas.

It doesn’t take long for Two-Bit, his mother, and his little sister to appear. Two-Bit’s mother Kathy was a nurse once, she takes one look at Johnny before ordering everyone else out. While the boys and Keith’s sister are filling out, she kneels next to Johnny, a terse smile on her face as she lifts him off of the floor and starts to help him towards a bed.

“No, I can’t, I’ll ruin the sheets and Darry will have to buy new ones.” Johnny protests, though he doesn’t do anything to get away from Kathy’s hands as she places him in the nearest bed she can find (Ponyboy’s).

“And if you try giving birth on that kitchen floor you’ll crack your little one’s head open. I’m sure he’d complain more about that.”

Johnny stays quiet as she moves him onto him back with his legs apart and gently starts to take his pants off. He stays quiet as a sheet is laid over his legs and a damp cloth is placed on his forehead. Kathy pulls up a chair to sit next to him and smiles, her hand clasping both of his as they wait for something, though Johnny doesn’t know what.

It turns out they are waiting for a contraction, Johnny throwing himself forward as he groans through the pain. Kathy just looks at her watch and sighs.

“My Keith took the best part of a day to be born. For your sake I hope the little one is quicker.”

Johnny hasn’t thought about this part of it much before, his brain immediately going to the part where he has a tiny bundle in his arms whenever he thought about what would be happening during his winter break. The thought that this could take a whole day fills him with a peculiar type of dread. He doesn’t want anyone in the gang to see him like this and he doesn’t know if the whole day will pass without his parents hearing about what’s going on and trying to make his life miserable.

“Any way of making it faster?”

Kathy smiles at him and shakes her head. “You’re just going to have to hope that the little one is in a speedy mood.”

Johnny groans - out of frustration rather than because of a contraction - and places a hand on his stomach. The kicking that has been constant throughout the past few months has paused for the moment, but he can still feel the solid form of the baby when he presses down. It’s the best that he has, Tulsa hospital doesn’t have one of the fancy new machines that lets you see the baby so all that he has had in the past several months is the occasional feeling of a hand, an elbow, or a foot brushing up against the skin of his belly. It’s been so long already, and all he wants is to actually get to hold it in his arms and tell it that there is so much love waiting for it out here. He presses down lightly.

“We’re ready whenever you are.”

Johnny hears the front door slam open and the sound of heavy footsteps in the hall. He falls against the wall just as the bedroom door opens, revealing a sweaty and out of breath Dallas Winston. He takes in the scene, but doesn’t enter the room, instead leaning against the doorframe while he tries and fails to look casual.

“I heard things were happening Johnnycakes,” he offers a smile. “Thought I’d see how you were doing.”

Johnny smiles while Kathy rolls her eyes. She takes Johnny’s hand again just before another contraction hits.

Dallas is by his side in an instant. Kathy looks at her watch and shrugs. “That was five minutes between them. We can’t do anything until it’s down to two.”

She stands and starts heading towards the door. She turns to Dallas and places a hand on his shoulder when she’s halfway there. “Just try to stay calm, it happens every day. You two will be fine.”

Dally waits for her to leave before he grabs Johnny’s hand and smiles.

“Move over Johnnycakes. Y’ain’t doing this by yourself.”

Johnny shakes his head and tries to push Dally away as the other boy starts to pull the sheets to the side and get in.

“Dally, I’m sweaty and covered in weird baby juice. You don’t want to get that on you.”

“Johnny, you’re in pain, our baby is nearly ready to meet us and I’ve been standing up all day. Let me wait with you.”

“Fine, but take your boots off.”

Dally snorts but does as he is told. “You know Darry is going to have to burn these sheets anyway.”

Johnny smiles as he feels Dally’s arms come to wrap around him. He closes his eyes and shrugs. “Don’t remind me, I already feel bad enough. I just hope that the mattress is okay.”

“At least it’s not a hospital. I didn’t just save up enough money for a house deposit for us so that we could spend it all on some fancy Doctor telling us what we already know.”

Johnny smiles again as Dally kisses the back of his neck. He turns as much as he can and brings a hand up to stroke against Dally’s cheek.

“We got a house?”

Dally nods, Johnny can feel it in the way that his greased hair brushes against the nape of his neck. He sighs happily and lets his hands fall down to his stomach.

“It’s got two bedrooms and a big yard, and it’s still near here and still in the school district.”

Johnny hums happily. “And far away from my folks place?”

“Don’t worry Johnnycakes, they won’t bother us. We’re going to be so happy just the three of us.”

Johnny groans and curls up as another contraction hits. He turns as much as he possibly can to Dally and looks at him with plaintive eyes.

“Please tell me that was two minutes.”

Dally sighs apologetically, kissing the back of Johnny’s neck again.

“Sorry Johnny, it was four. Do you want me to get you anything?”

Johnny shakes his head and closes his eyes again. “Just stay with me for a while. Tell me more about our house, what colour is the porch?”

Dally begins to go into detail about everything that he can remember about the little house he just signed a contract on.

It’s another twenty minutes before the contractions are close enough together for Kathy to come in and shoo Dally out into the living room with the rest of the gang sans Darry and Steve. So many pairs of eyes are on him, Soda looks happy, Two-Bit looks bored, Two-Bit’s sister looks slightly confused and Pony looks apprehensive.

Dally looks down at his feet and shrugs.

“We can pay for new sheets. Sorry Ponyboy, don’t think any amount of washing’s gonna get all that gunk out of them.”

Pony just shrugs. “Is Johnny okay?”

Everyone winces as they hear a pained grunt coming from Sodapop and Ponyboy’s bedroom. Dally looks back over his shoulder and half thinks about barging back in there before he remembers how scary Kathy can be.

“Well he is having a baby. But I think he’s going to be okay. He ain’t bleeding out or nothing.”

He takes a seat with the rest of them then, all of them sitting in an uneasy silence as they try to ignore the occasional pained noise coming from the bedroom.

Darry comes home at about midday. He seems confused by the congregation in his living room until he hears Kathy telling Johnny to breathe, at which point he sighs and takes a seat with the others.

At three o’clock in the afternoon, a baby girl is born. She weighs 5 pounds and six ounces and has a dark smattering of hair on her head. Johnny gets to hold her for exactly 3 minutes and 20 seconds after her umbilical cord is cut, not caring that she is covered in goop or that he is most definitely going to have to burn the shirt he is wearing. He just smiles down at her while Kathy wraps up all of the bloody stuff in a soon to be burnt sheet, trying to memorise the way her little fingers curl around his thumb and how her little mouth is pursed in a frown.

After that glorious 200 second period, she is scooped out of his arms and handed to a waiting Dally in the hallway, Kathy explaining that she needs to make sure he isn’t bleeding and that nothing is torn. Johnny nods, waving to his daughter and Dally as they go out of sight in the direction of the living room.

Dally holds the baby with such care that the rest of the gang hardly recognise him. Darry especially finds it hard to believe that this is the same greaser who threatened a nurse with a blade to get out of hospital to go to a rumble. He’s even humming in an effort to keep the baby quiet.

Darry walks up to him and gestures for him to come into the kitchen. “Let’s clean her up a bit, yeah?”

Dally follows, his eyes fixed on the baby in his arms as Darry guides him through the doorway and towards the kitchen sink. The eldest Curtis brother carefully turns on the taps, making sure that the water is warm enough that the little one won’t catch cold but still not so hot as to scald her delicate skin. He gently lifts her out of Dally’s arms and frees her from her blanket as he uses a ladle to pour the water over her head. He grabs a cotton swab and starts to work the sticky fluid covering her out of her hair and off of her skin.

“She‘ll be pretty in a few days Dal. All babies look like frogs when they first come out.”

Dally just shrugs and kicks his bare foot against the kitchen floor. “She’s already perfect, I reckon she’s gonna take after Johnny.” He grabs another cotton swab and starts to clean her tiny little hands. “You know, I was worried for a bit when Johnny told me we were having a baby, but she’s so beautiful.”

Darry smiles. “Just you wait till she starts crying.”

Dally shrugs again, moving on to her feet. “We got a nice crib for her in the bedroom. She won’t ever have to cry for long.”

“You got a house?” Darry finishes cleaning her and wraps her up in the blanket once more, handing her to Dally when he’s done.

“Yeah, just down the street. If I keep working at the DX it’ll be all mine in ten years. Less if Johnny gets a job when this one starts school.”

Darry smiles. “Who would have thought it?”

Dally shrugs. “Well my whole life, I don’t think anyone ever trusted me, not properly. But Johnny... he’s different, and now we’ve got her...” he looks up at Darry with big wide eyes and a small smile on his face. “It feels good having someone who trusts me enough to do this. And I don’t ever want to disappoint either of them. I know we did it a bit earlier than we should have, and that it’ll be hard for Johnny at school for a bit, but for the first time in my life I’m excited about tomorrow. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before.”

Darry smiles and pulls Dally into a one armed hug. “I’m happy for you Dally. Let’s see if Johnny‘s cleaned up enough to go to the hospital.”

“What?”

“You need to register the birth Dally. I’ll drive you.”

Fifteen minutes later they’re entering the hospital and desperately trying to figure out a name for her.

It ends up being Danielle.

* * *

The day that Dally and Johnny finish paying off their house doesn’t seem any different from any other day. Johnny picks up Danielle from school on his way home from work and they walk home. She’s excited to be starting middle school the next year and he’s concerned about her story about the hippy kids having a fight with the Socs.

They’re making dinner together (he cooks, she supervises from a chair) when Dally gets home. It’s a little later than usual and the smile on his face is so wide that Johnny worries something’s gonna get stuck. It’s only when he holds out a piece of paper with their names on it that Johnny realises what day it is.

“If I’d’ve known, I would have taken us out to dinner.”

Dally shrugs and kisses him on the cheek. “Tomorrow. Right now all I want is to hear about what my Princess did today at school.” He turns to Danielle and picks her up briefly, spinning her around in the air for a second before he has to put her down. She’s almost ten now, but sometimes he still looks at her like she’s the little frog that was born in Pony’s bedroom, and it always comes as a shock when he realises she’s grown.

They end up on the porch after dinner, watching the sun make its way towards the horizon, and Dally can’t remember a time he felt so free. He holds Johnny in his arms while he sits on his seat on the porch of the house he owns, and the future’s never seemed so bright.


End file.
